New Outreach Casts Wider Net for After Abortion Careby Staff
May 21, 2008
SAN DIEGO, (christiansunite.com) -- America's churches are filled with worshippers who have been deeply affected by an abortion experience. The Alan Guttmacher Institute reports that one in every three women will have had an abortion by age 45. Forty-three percent of women who obtain abortions identify themselves as Protestant, and 27% as Catholic. This means that the majority of people who attend services every Sunday have personally experienced abortion or know someone whose life has been touched by an abortion.
Michaelene Fredenburg, creator of the new outreach effort Abortion Changes You(TM), is one of them. "When I was 18, I had an abortion," Fredenburg shares. "After years of struggling with self-destructive behaviors my experience brought me to church.... but I often found myself thinking that if people sitting around me knew what I had done, they wouldn't shake my hand-and certainly wouldn't sit next to me." Abortion Changes You(TM) is an invitation for people from all faith backgrounds who have experienced abortion - men, women, grandparents, siblings, other family members and friends - to discover that they are not alone and that healing resources are available.
As Fredenburg explains, "Many men and women who have experienced abortion have a sense that somehow God and the church are 'off-limits' for them. Some do find their way into church, but silently struggle to move forward in their relationship with God."
Many men and women want to support those who have experienced abortion, but often don't know how to address such a difficult personal experience. Abortion Changes You helps friends and family members understand the reproductive loss and grief surrounding an abortion experience and offers practical suggestions on how to be a safe place.
Abortion Changes You(TM) also provides pastoral tools for lay leaders, ministers and others to reach those in their congregations and communities who have been affected by abortion. The outreach uses dynamic resources, including an interactive Web site
www.AbortionChangesYou.com, the book Changed: Making Sense of Your Own or a Loved One's Abortion Experience, multimedia and ministry tools available at
www.AbortionChangesYouResources.com, and connections to local counseling resources, including Biblically-based after abortion healing support.
Says Jonathan Imbody of the Christian Medical Association, "Somehow in the midst of an often caustic cultural clash, the Abortion Changes You outreach has managed to send a soothing message of hope, restoration and unconditional love. The caring partners in this outreach focus on meeting the individual needs of the men and women experiencing abortion sequelae. This redemptive work springs from a true understanding of the loss and heartbreak that millions have experienced through abortion. Through resources, dialogue and counseling, many are experiencing, through the healing hands of Abortion Changes You, a sense of grace and release that they never thought possible."
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